MELANIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does melanin mean? 

• MELANIN (noun)
  The noun MELANIN has 1 sense:

1. insoluble pigments that account for the color of e.g. skin and scales and feathers

  Familiarity information: MELANIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MELANIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Insoluble pigments that account for the color of e.g. skin and scales and feathers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("melanin" is a kind of...):

animal pigment (pigment occurring in animals)

Holonyms ("melanin" is a substance of...):

feather; plumage; plume (the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds)

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Derivation:

melanize (make or become black)

melanize (convert into, or infiltrate with melanin)

 Context examples 

This protein is involved in the biosynthesis of melanin.

(L-Dopachrome Tautomerase, NCI Thesaurus)

It is also the precursor of EPINEPHRINE, THYROID HORMONES, and melanin.

(L-Tyrosine, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A flat, benign, pigmented spot on the skin caused by excessive deposition of melanin from an increased number of melanocytes in the cell layer directly above the basement membrane of the epidermis.

(Lentigo, NCI Thesaurus)

Melanin pigments, polymer derivatives of the amino acid tyrosine, are over-expressed in approximately 40% of melanomas.

(Ioflubenzamide I-131, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare cancer of melanocytes (cells that produce the pigment melanin) found in the eye.

(Intraocular melanoma, NCI Dictionary)

This allele, which encodes L-dopachrome tautomerase protein, plays a role in the mediation of melanin biosynthesis.

(DCT wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The classification is based on the skin complexion and the degree of tolerance to sun exposure and it relates to the amount of melanin pigment in the skin.

(Fitzpatrick Classification Scale, NCI Thesaurus)

A cell in the skin and eyes that produces and contains the pigment called melanin.

(Melanocyte, NCI Dictionary)

A form of cancer that begins in melanocytes (cells that make the pigment melanin).

(Melanoma, NCI Dictionary)

Cytoplasmic melanin is not present; however immunohistochemical studies have confirmed the melanocytic lineage of the tumor cells.

(Paraganglioma-Like Dermal Melanocytic Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)